Was Ramona the victim of a serial killer? Police use specially-trained cadaver dogs to hunt for body of little girl who vanished 50 YEARS ago

Police are renewing their search for seven-year-old Ramona Price who vanished without a trace five decades ago by bringing in specially-trained cadaver dogs.

It is hoped the dogs will finally be able to find the remains of the little girl when they search through the dirt and brush of a bridge over the 101 Freeway in Santa Barbara which was being built when she disappeared in 1961 and is soon to be torn down.

Santa Barbara police now believe that Ramona fell victim to one of the area's most prolific serial killers the day she told her father she was going to run ahead to their new home. She never arrived.

Victim: Ramona Price vanished without trace on September 2, 1961 when she was just seven-years-old

Serial killer: Ramona is thought to have been a victim of Mack Ray Edwards who boasted that he buried some of his bodies under roads while he was a construction worker

They believe she may have fallen victim to Mack Ray Edwards, who worked on the structure as a heavy machine operator in September, 1961, when Ramona went missing.

Edwards confessed to six murders and is believed to have killed at least 20 children before turning himself in to police in 1970. He hung himself in his San Quentin cell the next year.

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According to Cam Sanchez, Santa Barbara Police Chief, he even joked about his murders in prison and said most of his victims would never be found because they were buried underneath roads.

Edwards, who died at the age of 53, wasn’t suspected at the time. Instead, police questioned two brothers who had convictions for sex crimes, but there was not enough evidence to prosecute them, and the case went cold.

Then four years ago author Weston DeWalt, who is writing a book on Edwards, started going through old police files.

Serial killer: Mack Ray Edwards, pictured in 1971, was convicted of murdering six children in the 50s and 60s. Police believe Romana Price was one of his victims

Renewed search: Santa Barbara cold case detective Jaycee Hunter is shown with her search dog sniffing for the remains of seven-year-old Ramona Price, who may be buried by the 101 Freeway

Last year he discovered Edwards had worked for a highway contracting company in Santa Barbara, and spoke to the friend he had shared a room with, just a quarter of a mile away from the bridge.

He told police he believed Edwards may have killed Ramona, too, but they have waited until now, as the overpass is demolished, to reveal their suspicions.

Police have warned the lead is only a possibility, but cold case investigator Jaycee Hunter told the Los Angeles Times: ‘The big thing is for us not to miss this opportunity. We would be stupid not to do it.’

KILLING SPREE: VICTIMS OF MACK EDWARDS

In 1971, Edwards was convicted of killing three children:

Stella Nolan, eight, from Compton. She disappeared on June 20, 1953

Gary Rochet, 16, from Granada Hills, who was shot on November 26, 1968

Donald Todd, 13, from Pacoima, who disappeared on May 16, 1969

He also confessed to another three murders, but couldn’t be charged because their bodies were never found. Those victims were:

Donald Lee Baker, 15 and Brenda Jo Howell, 12, from Azusa, who both vanished on August 6, 1956

Roger Madison, 16, from Sylmar, who disappeared on December 16, 1968

Across the state, officers are still trying to unravel the full extent of Edwards’s killing spree. He hinted to police he had murdered many more than six, but hung himself in jail before they could verify his claims.

LAPD detective Vivian Flores said: ‘We can't give up finding these kids, we just can't. These children represent your kids and my kids. Would you ever want detectives to stop looking if your child was missing?’

Police say if the three dogs detect the presence of a body, excavation work could begin next week.

They hope to have more success than in 2008, when they excavated an exit ramp in search of Roger Dale Madison, a 16-year-old boy who Edwards confessed to stabbing.

He went missing in 1968, when the killer was working on the freeway, and officials thought he could be buried underneath it. After five days, the search was called off.

Edwards became known for the terrible brutality of his crimes. His first murder was in 1953, when he abducted and sexually assaulted an eight-year-old girl called Stella Nolan.

He strangled her and threw her off a bridge, but when he came back the next day and found she was still somehow alive and had managed to crawl 100 yards, he stabbed the little girl and buried her in an embankment.

Edwards’s spree finally stopped in 1970, when he and a 15-year-old accomplice bungled the kidnap of three sisters.

Yet he also displayed an odd streak of kindness which bemused investigators. When he turned himself into police after the botched abduction, he warned the sergeant his gun was loaded.

He also said he was disappointed the families of his victims would have to hear the details of the horrific murders in court even though he pleaded guilty.

During his trial he said he wanted to be executed, and tried twice to commit suicide in custody.

He was convicted of three murders in 1971 and was sentenced to the death penalty he craved, but he hung himself before his execution.